To Be or Not to Be-Resolute

After my divorce, there was a shift in “things”. All the things. In the house. It was time for a restart, and I devoured the book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”. I was ready to KonMarie my space.

The basis of this book is to ask yourself, while holding an item, does it spark joy? And if not, thank it with gratitude and let it go. I worked through the categories, beginning with clothes, then moving on to books.

My collection of books is minimal. It consists mostly of self help, workbooks, and anything I feel is enlightening. One book in particular was “The Power of a Praying Wife”, which I bought, along with the workbook, in hopes to help my marriage. As I looked at the pile before me, I realized I was looking at a 10 year old collection of books I felt I “should” read. As I decided to thank them and let them go, this huge weight was lifted off of me. Not of failure, but of release. And of acceptance, of myself, for not really wanting to read and do these workbooks. Perhaps they weren’t resonating. Perhaps I have a stubborn streak. Perhaps the purpose was to buy them to entertain the idea of the titles. Perhaps that was all. It felt so freeing to let go of an expectation I had of myself to finish these books.

As we embark on a New Year and the tradition of making resolutions, I feel myself thinking of things I “should” do to better myself. Fully knowing, 3 weeks in, I will have dropped any resolution I made. So this year, I released myself from making them. Instead, reveling in the freedom that comes with letting go of expectations of myself. In its place, making room for Intention. Mindfulness. Being in the Present. Flow. The irony is, these words are in itself a type of resolution. However, they come without metrics or a to do list… rather a state of mind that we can live out of that ultimately, betters ourselves.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year! May you find your own freedom and release of the “should’s”